Byutifull
by They That Know
Summary: Laurel Souza reflects on one of the many mysteries of life from the backseat of her Daddy's SUV. One-shot. Chlerek, needless to say. EXTENSION IS UP.
1. Chapter 1

**Summary: Laurel Souza reflects on one of the many mysteries of life from the backseat of her Daddy's SUV. One-shot. Chlerek, needless to say.**

**A/N: Yeah, so this is somewhere between AU and Canonland, a bit fluffy. This is a one-shot, as I already said, but if you guys are game I will (probably) extend it to a two-shot.**

**Disclaimer: So in case you didn't already know, I own the Darkest Powers. No, I'm kidding I don't and I wouldn't want to own characters I didn't create. Laurel Souza, however, is mine. Or maybe she belongs to Derek and Chloe. I don't know. I also don't own _The Snow Queen_, a work by Joan D. Vinge, which happens to be one of my favorite sci-fi novels. And now the disclaimer is longer than the Author's Note.**

**}~{**

_**Byutifull**_

"Daddy?"

"Yes, Laurel?"

"Where are we going?" Laurel asked. Daddy grunted. She felt bad. Daddy had probably already told her, but she had a horrible memory.

They were on the highway to pick Mommy up from LAX after being on location in Augusta, Maine for a sci-fi fantasy novel adaptation by the name of _The Snow Queen_. Of course, _Laurel _didn't know all that.

"We're going to go get Mommy." He stated simply.

Laurel frowned. "You mean from the place with pretty white kites?" she asked, that's what mommy said they were.

"If you're talking about the airport, then yes." Daddy said, laughing his deep laugh that seemed to hum all the way from the front seat, through the black leather upholstery, past her bright purple and green car seat, cruising along her small body, and into her head, rocking her brain as Grandpa Kit does her person when she's sleepy.

"Airport…" she said, trying the word out on her tongue. She might as well enjoy saying right now. Chances were, she wouldn't remember five minutes from then.

Silence.

"Daddy?"

"Yes, sweetheart?" Laurel looked down. She played with Pinky's ear. Pinky was a black bunny with silver in her ears, a silver stomach, and a purple nose. She was a Build-A-Bear. The rabbit reminded her of herself, what with it's dark colors. Daddy said that 'for the life of him' he couldn't understand why she named him Pinky, but he wouldn't understand. She knew he wouldn't because, honestly, Laurel didn't quite understand it herself.

"Do you think I'm pretty?"

Daddy nearly swerved off the road.

"Laurel, why do you ask me that?" he asked, turning to face her for a split second before he directing his attention back to the windshield.

"Because Tommy said that he doesn't like me and I asked him why and he said it was because I'm not pretty and Samantha is. I asked him if that meant that I'm ugly and he said yup, it does. Am I ugly?" she asked. She didn't really fully understand what Tommy had meant by being ugly or pretty, but she figured it wasn't good to be ugly. Since, you know, Tommy hated her guts and all.

Daddy's hands tightened on the onyx-colored steering wheel, also tightly wrapped in cowhide. He exhaled a loud breath.

"Laurel, let me explain something to you. There is a difference between being pretty and being beautiful. Pretty is something anyone can be, but not everybody gets to be beautiful, and you, Laurel, are both. It's impossible to be beautiful and ugly, and so you can't possibly be ugly. This Tommy character, however, is a different matter altogether." He finished, narrowly avoiding calling the boy the fugliest little turd she'd ever have the displeasure of meeting.

Laurel honestly didn't comprehend the majority of what he had just said, which is what usually happened whenever she asked Daddy to explain something. She did, however, think she got something. Daddy, if she heard right, said that she was pretty _and _beautiful, and, the way Daddy said it, being beautiful must be a _very _good thing. Pulling her slightly pudgy fingers from the seat of her denim jeans, straightening out the pink sleeves of her shirt, she decided to list everybody she knew that was beautiful. Mommy said that, whenever she had a lot to write down, she put it in a list. She whispered in Pinky's floppy that she needed him to help her out. Going in her crayon box and retrieving her coloring clipboard, she began to write.

_**The B-**_

She stopped for a moment. _How do you spell beautiful_? Ms. Muffy says that when you don't know a word, sound it out. Probably not the best advice to give to a kindergartner, but clearly neither Laurel nor Ms. Muffy were aware of this.

_**The Byutifull List**_

**Bi Laurel and Pinky**

**-Mommy beecuz she is nyse mos of the tyme. And she makes good spagety. And we play hyde-and-seek.**

**-Daddy beecuz hes reely smart and I giv him lots of kissis and hugs and he piks me up and we play wite kites.**

**-Grampa Kit beecuz he lafs a lot. And we watch Super Why and Elmo and Barney. And Dora. And Mickey. And Telletubbies.**

**-Anty Tori beecuz shes reely reely funny. **

**-NOT Uncle Simmy beecuz he and the tikle monster won't leave me alone. Fine Pinky says Uncle Simmy is byutifull to.**

**-Laurel beecuz daddy says so and if daddy says so then its true.**

**-Pinky beecuz Pinky AND Laurel says so.**

**-3 3 3 3 **

**}~{**

"Mommy!" Laurel yelled at the top of her five-year old lungs. She ran to the short, petite blonde woman speed-walking into the waiting area with about three grey luggage bags in tow. Laurel ran as fast as her mini, light-up, Stride-Rite sneakers and stubby legs would take her.

Pinky's ear was clutched in her hand as he was mericlessly dragged along. Daddy was near jogging to keep up with his daughter, having been taken completely off guard when he let her down and she bolted clear across the the crowded area. It liked to have given him a heart attack when she narrowly avoided being wiped out by careless people with obviously deep emotional scarring that led to over-packing issues somewhere along the line, and how completely oblivious Laurel was to what was going on.

Mommy easily closed the distance after hearing her only child's soft voice ringing out loud clear. Sweeping the little girl clear off the ground, she held her tightly to her chest, their heartbeats pounding in sync.

"I missed you, Mommy." She said, lifting her head from her mother's shoulder to face her with her medium length, wavy midnight black hair and Forget-me-not blue eyes. Mommy smiled.

"I missed you too, baby." Mommy said, grinning as she peered out to Laurel from beneath her platinum-blonde auburn-streaked bob and slight bump. Mommy had been in Dublin, Ireland overseeing the production for the screenplay she'd written for her favorite sci-fi novel, _The Snow Queen_, a tale of intergalactic cover-ups, cultural oppositions, and intriguing (and at times incestuous) relationships.

"Daddy missed you too," Laurel said with her face fixed snugly into Mommy's shoulder.

"Did he?" She asked. Laurel nodded, then sat up and cupped her mom's ear.

"He even says your name sometimes at night!" she giggled into her ears.

"Really?" she laughed, whispering conspiratorially to Laurel.

"Mmhmm." She smiled, nodding her head emphatically. Mommy looked over at poor Daddy, who had his head hung sullenly. Unfortunately, Laurel was not aware that her Daddy had abnormally strong hearing. As in, whispering in the Souza household was a 'no-go'.

**}~{**

"Hey, Laurie?"

"Yes, Mommy?" Laurel asked as she looked back over her Byutifull List to see if she misspelled any words before showing Mommy and Daddy. She didn't find anything.

"Can Pinky talk?" Mommy asked. Laurel chortled.

"Of course not, Mommy! Don't be silly!" she said, bobbing the bunny in question on her knee with a beam plastered on her face. Well, it was plastered there until she dropped a crayon onto the seat. She can't reach the actual seat from her perch atop her carchair. She pouted to herself and reached for a different shade of blue from her pack, wiping frustrated tears from her eyes. Ever since Daddy told her big girls don't cry loudly, she kept most of her insignificant sobs to herself.

"Then why do you sometimes say something that Pinky said?"

"Mommy, don't you know already?"

"Don't know what already?"

"That there are two Pinkys." She said, biting her lip as she struggled to comb her second favorite Barbie doll's red hair _just right_.

"Two Pinkys?"

"Yeah." Mommy turned around in her seat to look at her.

"What do you mean 'Two Pinkys'?"

"There's one right here, too." Laurel said, tapping her pretty, dark head. Mommy's eyes went wide.

"You mean somebody else talks to you?" Laurel nodded her head.

"Can anybody else see the other Pinky, too?" Mommy answered, barely keeping the desperation out of her tone. Daddy was tense, too. Laurel and Pinky 1# seemed to be the only ones in the car blissfully unaware of the change in atmosphere.

"Of course not, Mommy, don't be silly! Other Pinky is just up here, I can't _see _him! Isn't Mommy silly, Pinky?" At this point Laurel was talking to stuffed Pinky, not faceless voice Pinky. Mommy and Daddy were visibly relieved, Other Pinky was probably just her conscious or something. Hopefully.

Silence.

"Mommy?" Laurel was nervous. She had to make sure Mommy and Daddy liked her list. They were pulling into the shiny suburb entitled 'Hidden Hills'. Laurel lives in the Bellbrooke subdivision but they always use the opening to Auburn to access the street that led to her house. Of course, Laurel didn't know all that. She recognized the houses and stores and streetlights and that's how she knew she was home.

"Yes, sweetie?" Mommy asked, her smooth light voice back to normal. They were almost home, she just decided to wait so she could show Mommy and Daddy the list at the same time. She smiled, she was doing what Daddy would call 'critical thinking'. If he knew what was going on in her head he'd be proud. At least, she liked to think he would.

The SUV came to a halt in the winding, off-white driveway. As the black Odyssey's roaring abated, Laurel watched as the black doors flew open and activated the motion sensitive porch lights. For some odd reason her parents never stayed in a specific area for very long. She couldn't imagine why. None the less, her parents shady tendencies were of no matter to her.

She calmly watched the upper-middle class family's modest three-story cobblestone house, accentuated with white paneling and a silver knocker. The pale ultraviolet security lights illuminated Mommy's hair, causing it to become nearly white in appearance and gave her an otherworldly appearance in stark contrast with the mess of colors splashed haphazardly against the willing sky. She waited patiently for someone to come get her, seeing as she was about three feet tall.

List tucked safely in her crayon box, she turned and saw her first favorite Barbie doll. The doll's naturally puffy doo, caramel-brown skin, and hazel eyes reminded her of her best friend, Consty, the doll's christened name. No comb she owned would be able to navigate Barbie Consty's tangled hair but she loved to run her fingers over the tight curls. Adjusting her sparkly pink dress, she heard the rumbling bass call her voice.

"Laurel." She turned to meet a pair of emerald green eyes and midnight tresses akin to her own. She decided to have a bit of fun with Daddy before he reached over her to unbuckle her seat belt.

"Daddy, do you like Barbie Consty's dress? She's about to go on a date with Xavier so she has to look _beautiful _for Xavier," She raises a delicate brow, smiling as her father was immediately uncomfortable. Xavier was Laurel's best boy friend at school but him and Consty couldn't stand each other, so Barbie Consty and Barbie Xavier were of course _madly _in love each other. She thought it was funny.

"Umm, sure Laurel let's go inside before Mommy accuses me of trying to infect you with influenza," Laurel was starting to get the feeling Daddy was doing that on purpose. Confusing her, that is, not infecting her with influenza. Armed with Pinky and giving him her coloring box-turned-Ark of the Covenant, she allowed him to pick her up and carry her to the doorstep. He learned a long time ago what happened when he told his daughter to walk with her box _and _Pinky.

She laid her head against his chest, fighting off sleep (as it was only late afternoon) and the urge to look at herself in her father's sunglasses, which were sitting atop his head, for the hundredth time. She closed her eyes and listened to the sound of his heartbeat and the thud of his feet against the concrete. As soon as they crossed the threshold she opened her eyes and perked her head up. Right, she had something to do before she took a nap. This all needed to be accomplished quickly as she needed to be awake in time for Super Why to come on.

"Are you tired?" Daddy asked her. This was a crucial moment. For some reason, even if she told him she wasn't sleepy and and didn't feel so he would sometimes still take her to her bed anyways and she'd be out before they reached door. If she wanted to take a nap, if she was hungry, if she's annoyed, if they needed to turn to Wild Kratts.

If Laurel did not effectively convince her father that she wasn't about to pass out he was going to put her to sleep and she would forget about the list and keep forgetting about the list until she eventually threw it away by accident and it was gone forever.

And that would be bad.

"No, I'm not sleepy at all, Daddy," she faced the white underbelly of the door.

"Laurel, you fell asleep as I carried you from the car to the house," He said with that dry tone that might as well have just said, _Sweetheart, please stop kidding yourself_.

"But I'm not sleepy!" she said and jumped down from his arms to support her position, a precarious thing to do when those arms belong to man trumping six feet. After regaining her footing she took off for the kitchen, managing not to slip on the lengthy elaborate rug swathing the wooden floor in the foyer as she passed the stairs, past the black couch as she tossed Pinky and the Ark of the Covenant onto the plush cushions and the carpeted reprieve the living room gave and into the hardwood kitchen where her mother was heating up a Marie Callender to eat before she started unpacking.

"Mommy, Mommy come here! I want to show you and Daddy something!" she says, clutching her mother's wispy hand in her own as she dragged her into the living room. Daddy had been on his way to the kitchen (the man ate every five minutes) when she shut that idea down with a clipped "Daddy, couch"' as she continued with her Mother.

Once both of her parents were sitting restlessly on the couch, Pinky having been ordered into Daddy's lap she pulled out the list and gave it to smiled at it and showed it to Daddy, who was in the process of frowning when he remembered who was watching him and quirked his lips. It was, after all, a touching thought.

"Why don't you read it, sweetie?" Mommy smiled at Laurel, betraying nothing.

"Okay," she said. Catching it from her mother's hands she began to read it aloud.

**}-{**

"No, I think you were right about 'Uncle Simmy' the first time," Daddy remarked and winced when Mommy nudged him with her elbow as Laurel laughed. Daddy was so funny sometimes. Laurel raised her arms, meaning she wanted Daddy to pick her up. He lifted her in one hand like a tissue box and began to toss her around.

He ran around the house, twisting her this way and that while she spread herself prostrate onto the palm of his large hands, laughing herself sick all the way. He would throw her high in the air and then catch her miraculously as she is about to make contact with the floor. She shut her eyes and imagined she was outside playing 'White Kites' in the summertime, like they usually do.

As they came back into the family room he tossed her up very far (they have very high ceilings) so that she could see the stars from one of the skylights and came spinning slowly back down. She landed on a soft stomach.

"Ouch!" Mommy cried with a laugh as Laurel just about laughed herself to death as she rolled off her mother and onto the bluish-grayish carpet.

"I'm sorry Mommy, it was all Daddy's fault!" she said, pointing an accusing finger at the heaving mammoth of a man. They were all laughing at their collective folly.

The three-person family sat down in front of the couch, Daddy flipping through the channels. His legs were stretched out fully, Mommy had one leg out and one tucked firmly beneath her chin, and Laurel had both knees curled up to her lips. They were all lined up with Daddy on the right. Laurel got up and climbed into her mother's lap, laying back while Mommy crossed an arm around them both.

Nothing interested Laurel and when Daddy and Mommy both started to get caught up on a special about Margaret Mitchell she decided she had had enough of them for now. She got up and took Fluffy's ear in her hand. Rubbing her eye with a balled up little fist she faced her father, who was still at least two feet taller than her even when he was sitting down and she was standing up.

"Nap time." she announced unceremoniously. She clambered up his legs and wrapped her arms around his neck, her head finding the familiar crook in his neck. He stood up and wrapped her legs around his torso and started his ascent up the stairs. She turned to wave blearily at Mommy who smiled warmly and waved back at her until she disappeared from view.

**}-{**

After taking off her shoes, taking a bath, pulling on some flannel pajamas, washing her face, and brushing her teeth she was finally ready for bed, because Daddy pretty much guessed that this was going to be it until tomorrow. They sat in bed as Daddy finished reading her Chapter Ten of _Beauty and the Beast _by Jeanne Marie Le Prince. As Daddy tucked her in she whispered something into his ears.

"_Daddy is beautiful_." he smiled.

"_Laurel is beautiful_." she smiled. Laurel closed her eyes and turned over, pulling the green and blue plaid comforter up to her and turned to Pinky.

"Don't worry Pinky, you're beautiful, too." Laurel drifted off to sleep. And maybe, if Pinky could, maybe he would have smiled, too.

**A/N: Alright so if you would like I could make a Day 2 sort of thing. It would probably be from Derek's Third Person view. Biya!**


	2. Visiting Hours

**A/N: Aww, thanks, guys! I appreciate all the reviews, favorites, and alerts. You really made my week, lol. I really happen to love the idea of Derek having a little girl. And, Chlerek, I don't like Timmy either. Shout outs to So, here goes for you guys that requested a follow-up!**

**}~{**

_**Visiting Hours**_

Daddy did not happen to like the way he was feeling right now.

His bed was empty, and, for Daddy, that was a very troublesome feeling. You see, Daddy has a wife and a baby girl, so he typically never wakes up alone in the mornings. If Mommy was out, baby girl was in. If Mommy was in, then baby girl was out. And, for some unknown reason, Daddy was beyond highly protective of the people that lived in his house.

You might even say he was like the alpha in the pride.

Needless to say, this put him on high alert. He climbed out of bed (while wondering, not for the first time, how his two-foot tall daughter managed it) and padded softly down the stairs and looked around in a way that was dangerously close to sniffing the air, when he stopped mid-stride.

A very nice smell had just assaulted his nose.

Trying not to run, he made his way towards the kitchen. He could already hear voices from therein.

"_Mommy, look!"_

"_It's very pretty Lauri, now throw that away."_

"_But, why, Mommy?"_

"_Lauri, your hands have been all over it."_

He stopped for a moment just to listen as the most important people in his life conversed freely.

Silence.

"_Lauri?"_

"_Yes, Mommy?"_

"_Don't even try to eat that."_

"_But I wasn't, Mommy!"_

"_Laurel."_

"_Are you sure it tastes bad, Mommy?"_

"_Yes."_

"_But its about to be a pancake!"_

"_Oh, Lauri."_

And that's when Daddy decided that was his cue. He was struck by an assailant before he got in the kitchen good.

"Daddy!" Laurel yells as she runs to the rather intimidating figure as if she hadn't seen him the last time she put her head on a pillow. He scoops her up in a hand, almost appearing to be using his fingers. But that would be crazy, right? It scares Daddy, sometimes, how fragile Laurel is in his arms. For the longest he was scared to hold her, he might grab on too tight and break her. But that hasn't happened yet.

"Good morning, Laurel." he said solemnly to Laurel after bringing them up face-to -ace.

"Good morning, Daddy." she replied solemnly after being brought face-to-face with Daddy.

And then she threw her arms around his neck and pushed her face into that crook in his neck. Daddy had had her for five years now and was yet to become used to that.

Laurel and Daddy had a strange but not uncomfortable kind of relationship. It was almost like they shared a mind, sometimes.

"So, now you're taking my kitchen helper from me," He turned around and came face-to-face with his pixie of a wife. Daddy looked apologetic and Mommy shoo-ed them both away.

Daddy walked them to the couch and sat Laurel on his lap, as Daddy flipped through the channels and ended up finding _How It's Made_, keeping them both glued to the t.v. screen until Mommy called for breakfast. Contrary to what his personality traits might suggest, Daddy had a very bad habit of babying Laurel. Was she spoiled? A little, but what's wrong with that? This, however, was not the case as they both raced to the glass table and Laurel won. Just as they were sitting down, the doorbell rang.

There, however, is a rule in the Souza household. Daddy does _not _answer the door when he's eating. Mommy isn't home, and Daddy's eating lunch with Laurel, you're probably just going to have to wait until they finish. He takes that _very _seriously. So you can imagine whomever it was's good luck that Mommy hadn't started eating yet and she was in a really good mood.

Laurel watched the door from the table. Daddy didn't because Daddy was eating.

"_Wow, Simon, you sure know how to arrive with the food."_

"_Aww, it's nice to see you too, Chloe!"_

There was a pause in conversation as she let him in and they hugged and exchanged pleasentries.

"_Now, where's bugaboo?" _Daddy inwardly groaned. He loved his brother, but he was disturbing one of his many meal times. Laurel jumped off her black chair and took off towards the foyer.

"YAY, IT'S UNCLE SIMMY!" And as soon as she reached the foyer he heard those same little steps retreating.

"AHH, IT'S UNCLE SIMMY!" And Daddy listened, highly annoyed, as Uncle Simmy chased her all around the house and finally tuned his strategy well enough to capture her in the guest bedroom and threw her over his shoulder as she was carried into the living room.

"NOOO, UNCLE SIMMY, PUT ME _DOWN_!" she exclaimed, beating his back with what felt like little puffs of air. But, of course, they were her hands.

"As you wish," and he fell down on the couch with her, and tickled her so hard that she could barely breathe. As the poor things was assaulted, she was bothered by the hair of his gruff golden blonde beard brushing her face.

"UNCLE SIMMY, NOOO!" she was crying, she was laughing so hard.

"Aww, but the tickle monster _loves _you!"

"IT ISN'T THE TICKLE MONSTER, ITS YOUR HAND!"

"Oh no, it looks like I've been found out."

And enter Daddy, looking downright murderous.

"Simon, all of your horsing around has caused me to drop pancakes. _Chloe's _pancakes. You're about to die." Uncle Simmy and Laurel thought the same thing.

_Run_.

**}~{**

And so, Daddy had just been thwarted in his idea to throw Simon out of his for more than one reason. His daughter was seated on the man's shoulders, clearly having a wild time, and his wife wouldn't let him.

So now Daddy, who was by then ravenous, had figuratively (probably) unhinged his jaw to ingest even more food than usual. Laurel, who's appetite fluctuated depending upon her mood, wasn't hungry at all anymore and was sitting on the couch with Uncle Simmy watching a football game. It was the Broncos vs. the Chargers, and the Chargers were losing something awful. Uncle Simmy, who was an ex-resident of Denver, Colorado, was howling fiercely at every touchdown, and so was darling Laurel. Well, Laurel wasn't really howling with every touchdown, she was just howling whenever Uncle Simmy did.

And all this was grating on Daddy's nerves terribly.

And then Tim Tebow ran the ball all the way to the end zone and scored his second touchdown within the last thirty seconds of the game, and all hell broke loose.

"!THAT'SINSANE!BRONCOSALLDAYBABY,WHOOOOOO!" he ran around the house yelling, Laurel screaming:

"BRONCOOOOOSSSS!"

Now, does Laurel know what a Bronco is? Nope, but we've already established that, haven't we? Mommy was laughing at the hilarity of it all, Daddy was one minute away from stuffing his face with painkillers, and Laurel was completely caught up in the thrilled energy Uncle Simmy was exuding while the flat screen was blaring in the living room.

And Mrs. Hurtsville, a widow from across the street, was standing at her phone and likely to call the police at the same time as Daddy O.D.d. At this point the situation had only gotten worse, as Uncle Simmy had by now been contacted by friends of his and now they were all screaming at each other over Tebow's epic win.

**}~{**

After about another hour of screaming and about two more hours of talking trash on Facebook and Twitter, everybody was sitting around calmly flipping through channels, Laurel bobbing up and down at a steady pace on Uncle Simmy's knee as they flipped through channels. Daddy was grading papers (he teaches a course on Psychology at Berkeley), Mommy was napping, and Uncle Simmy and Laurel were just kind of chilling. It was a lazy afternoon, to say the least.

"Uncle Simmy?"

"Hm?"

"Where's Auntie?"

"Auntie's at work."

"But where?"

"In a magnificent place called Atlanta."

"Really?"

"Yup."

"What's Atalanata like?"

"Well, _Atlanta _is very warm."

"Is it very far?"

"Not really."

"Could we go there?"

"Maybe."

"Could we walk?"

"Sure."

"How long would it take?"

"Oh, we'd get there by about 2014."

"What's a 2014?"

"A year."

"What's a-"

"Laurelli, what do they teach you in pre-k?"

"I don't understand you, Uncle Simmy."

"Where'd you hear 'understand'?"

"Sid the Science Kid!"

"The show with the freaky, deep-voiced, play-doh kids?"

And here she gave him a look. One thing you didn't do in the Souza household, diss Laurel's favorite shows. Just as Uncle Simmy was about to receive a lecture on why Sid the Science Kid is an awesome show, all the while making him suffer until the very end, at which point her words would slur into meaningless babble, the doorbell rang.

In a flash, Daddy, who had been at the dining table to the direct right of the front entrance, was opening the door.

"Tori."

"Derek."

"Auntie Tori!"

"Hey, Laurel."

Daddy decided that Laurel must simply be a very affectionate child, as Auntie Tori hadnever been very strong as far as reciprocating feelings went.

And then there was silence, because, for some godforsaken reason, Auntie Tori and Uncle Simmy were in a fight. Well, "fight" sounds immature, so perhaps "vicious, prolonged argument" would be a better description.

Even Laurel could feel it this time. Because she was uncomfortable, she just kind of ran off. Probably to go find Pinkie, but who knows? But, with the removal of her presence, she took all pretense with her, leaving behind the awkward shell of hostility behind.

Which automatically broke with the comedic arrival of Mommy, looking sleepy in a spaghetti-strap tank, pajama bottoms, and just-woke-up hazy eyes. Mommy, like a normal person, had wrongly assumed that, because there was no noise, nobody but maybe Daddy was down stairs. Little did she know that practically _everybody _was down stairs.

Awkward was not a strong enough word to describe how she probably felt at the moment.

Shrugging, she pushed back a stawberry-blonde curl and made her way to the kitchen, where she heated up a Campbell's soup, grabbed the remote of the pristine marble counter, and changed to _Dance Moms_ on Lifetime. Her fuzzy blue-striped socks moved noiselessly across the changing landscapes of her home's floors.

She walked over to her square, glass table with a ceramic bowl, grasping it by it's handle. Laughing softly at Abby Lee's antics, she completely ignored her husband's plees for help as the tension broke and things got really heated in front of the door.

And you would not _believe _what the argument was about.

It all started months ago, when Steve Jobs died of pancreatic cancer and Auntie Tori drove to their house in tears, decked out in black. That entire afternoon, Laurel, Mommy, and Auntie Tori all sat at her Princess Tiana table (which was draped in a dark brown curtain- they didn't own any black ones) and mourned him. Even now Auntie Tori was still grieving, and, a few weeks back, when Uncle Simmy asked her politely to 'get over it' she told him politely to 'go to hell', and that's what sparked the 4-week-long disagreement.

Daddy rubbed his sensitive ears and asked them very nicely to take it outside, as he had a sensitive 5-year-old just upstairs. Of course, Laurel, who found the whole thing fascinating, continued to watch them from her window. She shook her head at them, looking at Pinkie on the windowsill. Clearly, someone had some _serious _growing up to do, and, even though she couldn't voice it, she felt Pinkie agreed with her. But then, now that she thought about it, he agreed with her opinion a lot.

She just shrugged and went back to drawing rainbows using yellow, purple, blue, and about a hundred shades of pink.

**}~{**

After booting Uncle Simmy and Auntie Tori from his house, Daddy was sitting on the couch, watching an episode of _How It's Made _on the Science Channel, and taking a breather after finishing half of his class' essays. As the announcer on the television broke down the anatomy of a golf ball, Mommy crept down the stairs. She had just bathed and put Laurel to bed, who was now dreaming of Steve Jobs riding a rainbow with Pinkie.

She curled into Daddy's side and watched alongside him in mute fascination. He slid an arm around her shoulders and she placed her head into his shoulder and traced Laurel's initials into his waist.

"Guess what, love?"

"What?"

"Your daughter told me I was _Byuitull_."

"Really?"

"Mhmm. You know, it still kind of takes me off guard."

"What does?"

"When she says 'Mommy'. There's this pretty little girl, and she's calling me 'Mommy' and she's expecting an answer. It's scary and it's the biggest thrill ever."

"I used to not even respond when she addressed me. She would just stand there, upset, probably wondering why we told her to call me 'Daddy' when I don't acknowledge her when she does."

Silence.

"Derek?"

"Hm?"

"Do you ever wonder what goes on in her head?"

"Yeah, sometimes I wonder what she thinks about us."

He remembered an unremarkable moment not so long ago that just happened to catch at the fringes of his mind.

_He had been taking Laurel to meet Xavier at the park on a warm day in June. She was two, her birthday was that February, the day before Valentine's. She just still learning how to express herself, as she didn't exactly have an expansive vocabulary. They were walking through the foyer when he paused to kick away a toy and shake his head when Laurel, who's head was facing the space behind him, tugged at his collar. He turned around and she pointed to the small, round, creme-colored table beside the steps that held a gold-colored lamp, a stack of magazines, and a cherub snow globe he bought Mommy while he was in Rome for a discovery trip the university sent him on. She crawled out of his arms, slid down his body, and ran to it. _

_Walking over to the area and kneeling down, he saw what she was trying to show him. A shaft of light from the windows above the front door had shined off the lamp and caused the globe to give off a shadow tinted with a goldish color. She picked it up, shook it with both hands, put it back and watched with Daddy as the flakes gave an otherworldly affect to the shadow._

_Suddenly, she frowned, deep in thought._

"_What's wrong, Laurel?"_

_Silence. She chewed her lip, angry. Then she broke out in a heart-shattering grin._

"_Pretty. Pretty!" She said more enthusiastically after deciding that was the right word._

_It was the first time she had used a descriptive word._

With Mommy's voice, the world fell back into place.

"I do, too. But she said we're _byutifull, _so I'm guessing she doesn't think too badly of us." She fiddled with the laces of her white snowflake pajama bottoms.

"Well, I think you're _byutifull_." Daddy was surprised at himself. He was becoming very affectionate of late.

"Well, _I _think _you _are _byutifull_." Mommy grinned brightly and leaned back, placing her feet on the couch. She looked up past the sky lights to see the stars, glittering brightly. Daddy watched, amused, through lidded eyes as she reached up and closed her hands into a fist as if she could snatch the balls of light right out of the sky. And her shiny eyes said so.

_Byutifulll, _was the last thing he thought before he drifted into a world almost as enticing as his reality.

**A/N: So, I'm sorry about this being so late, guys. Really, I am. I shouldn't have promised you guys a chapter when I hadn't finished it yet. From now on for a while, I'm going to do strict one-shots, as in NO multi-chaptered fics, because I clearly take years to write one. I have this big thing I'm doing with the album '21' by Adele, and it's going to include Darkest Powers, so keep and eye open for me again. Thanks be to: Xx-LoveEraser-xX, Chlerek, SweatDreamzz3116, ChloeXDerekDP, holymfwickee, ouran4eva, Crixtine, and dittzybuttercup for reveiwing before I finished the second chapter. I really, appreciate it, guys. Also, if you want to review still, even though this story is over, feel free!**

**Until Stars Shine On Us Again,**

**A.T.H**


	3. Letter to Laurelites

**Hey guys!**

**So, I was thinking... how do y'all (the readers/reviewers) feel about bringing back Laurel & Crew for a multi-chapter fic? The chaps would probably be within the 1,000-word area, so they wouldn't be too long, but updates woud be bi-weekly for that reason. Drop a comment if you wouldn't mind reading _Eagle's Eyeview_, or if you don't like the name _Eagle's Eyeview_.**

**Say Something(!),**

_**ATH.**_

**(P.S. I just uploaded the first chapter of Eagle's Eye View, here's the link: http:/www.fanfiction.net/s/8309867/1/Eagles_Eye_View there you go!)**


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